India awaited to support

Panamax vessel operators and brokersin the Pacific are looking to India for support after the government axed export taxes on iron ore.

Panamax vessel operators and brokersin the Pacific are looking to India for support after the government axed export taxes on iron ore.

Panamax vessel operators and brokersin the Pacific are looking to India for support after the government axed export taxes on iron ore.

The Baltic Panamax Index continued to fall last week, losing 19%, and edged down a further 23 points on Monday to close at 481.

?The market is dead,? said a Shanghai-based broker.

He added that there is nothing worth looking at for an indication of the trend of the Pacific panamax market except the exports from India.

The Indian government has announced that export duty on iron ore fines will be eliminated and on lumps will be reduced to 5%.

?After removing the export tax, it is expected that more cargo would be shipped out of India,? said the Shanghai broker.

?Last week, we have already seen some charterers taking vessels from south China to pick up cargoes from the east coast of India to China.

?The Pacific market will be looking to India this week for support.?

Adding to this, both the steel price, in Shanghai, and iron ore price in China"s Beilun, have rebounded almost 20% from their lows in mid-November to reach Yuan 3,460 ($503) per tonne and Yuan620 per tonne respectively last week.

A sign of economic activity

JP Morgan analyst Johnson Leung sees this as a sign of economic activity picking up in China, according to a research report issued on Friday.

The Shanghai broker added that a Pacific round voyage from the east coast of India to China could be as low as $2,000 per day for a 74,000 dwt vessel.

This compared with the rates of almost $8,000 per day for fixtures on the same route just a week ago.

It is reported that the 73,941 dwt, 1999-built Genco Knight has been taken at $2,000 per day to sail from south China, via the east coast of India with iron ore, to China.

At a slightly higher rate of $2,500 per day, the 73,603 dwt, 2005-built Ju Da has been chartered for a trip from Xinmen, via the east coast of India with iron ore, to China.

Rates on the Australian route were slightly higher than the Indian route. The 76,343 dwt, 2004-built Pacific Breeze was taken at $3,000 per day to carry coal from the east coast of Australia to China by STX Pan Ocean.

In the period market, a Hong Kong-based ship broker said it was very quiet last week, as it had been for the past weeks.

But there were still some one-year fixtures being booked at around the $10,000 per day level in the market.